Personal computers are now widespread throughout the business community and many are able to intercommunicate, either through fixed connections e.g. local area networks, or through dynamically established links e.g. ISDN or async lines over the public switched telephone network. Increasingly, these connected personal computers can be used to enhance collaborative working between remote individuals; a typical example being the use of desk top conferencing software. Successful collaborative work generally requires more than a simple data link between the participants; voice capabilities are normally essential and video links are frequently required. Thus remote collaborative working can often be regarded as an extension to the traditional telephone call--it being enhanced with the data and programs available at the desktop via the personal computer--and, on occasions, enriched with video services.
A broad spectrum of collaborative applications can be envisaged, ranging from utilities taking advantage of the data and applications on a workstation, e.g. sharing of screen windows and files, through to new collaborative applications designed to meet the needs of specific classes of remote user e.g. just-in-time education, remote presentations, executive broadcasts or help desk. The common requirements behind these examples are:
the support of a wide variety of personal computer platforms--both hardware and software. PA1 operation over the existing communication networks. PA1 group communications and multi-media data services. PA1 the workstation comprising an operating system; PA1 a network control program layer, running on the operating system, for controlling physical routing of multi-media data between nodes; and PA1 a collaborative application support program layer for interfacing with application programs running on the workstation and responsive to predetermined application program calls to create a logical network model of a collaborative environment comprising sharing sets of application programs, which share data and resources within and across nodes, and logical dedicated data channels connecting members of a sharing set of application programs, each data channel being defined by a sending port and a receiving port each associated with an application program, the collaborative application support program layer being adapted to cooperate with the network control program layer to establish the physical links necessary to implement the logical network model in a physical network, transparently to the application programs.
Although desk top conferencing systems employing multi-media devices and communications channels exist, generally they are provided with a fixed set of system software and utility applications which is insufficiently flexible to meet the needs of all potential applications.
Accordingly the present invention provides a programmable workstation for collaborative working in a network of workstations forming the nodes of the network, the network being connected by physical links for the transmission of data between nodes;
According to another aspect, the invention also provides A method in which, in response to a predetermined program call by a first application program through which data is being transferred, via receiving and sending ports of the first application, between two other applications, the receiving port of the first application is reversibly directly connected to its sending port so that the data transfer bypasses the first application programs.